Saturday, November 19, 2011

700,800 Hours

700,800 hours is how many hours we live in 80 years. Wow, that's all? Yes, that's all. Each semester that I taught community college English classes, I began the first class with this fact, and my students were always shocked. They thought they had at least a million hours or more. That's what I always thought too, until one day I did the math. We don't even get a million hours if we live to be 100!

But even the 700,800 hours is misleading because we spend one third of those hours sleeping and another third or so going to school, working, and taking care of everyday matters like eating and showering. So, at best, we probably have one third of our time, or approximately 233,600 hours, to do the things that define us, that make us who we are. That's not a lot of hours, is it?

Recently, I turned 60 and did not receive classes to teach from my community college due to budget cuts. I miss my students very much because I love intellectual interaction, the discussion of every topic under the sun from a variety of perspectives. I also realize that I have fewer than 58,000 hours until I'm 80 (if I live that long) to finish defining myself. So, what do I want to do with my remaining hours (besides read as many books as possible, of course)? What I want to do is consider just about everything, share my thoughts, and hear yours, on the big questions of life and the not so big.

To that end, I welcome you to my brand new blog. Hope you enjoy it, and hope you will comment often.

Take care,

Kate

If you wish to make a comment and do not have one of the accounts listed under "Comment As," please click Anonymous and sign your name on your post. Thank you.

Mario's comment from Facebook:Mario Villarreal Jr. "Miss Kathleen! I was in super shock when u gave this fact to our class! It is very unbelievable how we have so little time yet it may feel long! Choose your time wisely on this earth is what I say do the things you want to do and do not live in regret:) keep blogging :) I'll keep reading"

Kathleen, What a terrific "kickoff" for your blog! It was thought provoking,to say the least! It also reminded me that I should be working on my blog! I have a site set up, but I've yet to write on it! Somehow, I always feel as though I have nothing "fresh and new" (as in this posting!) to say. On the other hand, one of my [economics] professors always told me that I "sold myself short". So, as always, you're an inspiration! Thanks, Kathleen!

Hey there would you mind sharing which blog platform you're using? I'm going to start my own blog soon but I'm having a hard time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I'm looking for something completely unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!

hello there and thank you for your information – I've definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise some technical issues using this web site, as I experienced to reload the web site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage your quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you update this again very soon.